Eyes on Julia
by d7-Poet
Summary: It all starts with the Eyes on Me songfic, followed by the death of someone special, and now here's a letter from a very angry daughter.
1. Eyes on Julia

This was my first fanfic. I fixed it up a bit, but there's still something missing IMHO.   
  
It's basically about Caraway's proposal to Julia and her response. It might be a little different than what you're thinking!  
  
Oh, I don't own FF8 or it's characters. I would be very happy if I did, but sadly, the ownership belongs to Squaresoft. I didn't write the song "Eyes on Me" either. That one belongs to Faye Wong.  
  
-- - -----  
  
Eyes on Julia  
  
"Juh-Julia..." whispered the tall man with proud shoulders and a stren face, stumbling over the simple name.  
  
"Julia?" he questioned nervously. His voice shook despite his effort to keep his composure. "There's something that I've been meaning to ask you..."  
  
"Yes?" Julia answered with a soft smile on her lips, but a faint look of dread in her eyes, as she awaited the impending question.  
  
After a short pause, the man took a deep breath. "Will you marry me?" he asked. His face softened as he took a knee and opened a small black velvet box that seemed to appear from nowhere.  
  
Suddenly, old memories came rushing back to the woman and there was nothing that she could do to stop them. The floodgates had opened, and no amount of force could shut them until time had run it's course. Thoughts of a lost love came flashing before her eyes. When she shook her head, and came back to reality, she found that the pair of once shining eyes had melted into two puddles of rejection.   
  
"N-no that's not what I---What I mean...yes! Yes!" she nearly screamed although the man still did not look convinced. "Please don't think that! I love you more than anything else in this world General Caraway and I couldn't think of a life without you!" she pleaded on the verge of tears.   
  
Caraway let out a sigh of relief, although he still had doubts in his mind.  
  
"The ring! Let me get th---" He blurted.  
  
"Not yet." Julia replied and her hands found his. "There's just one thing I have to do first. Let's take a trip to the hotel bar. I need to say goodbye."  
  
-- - -----  
  
"May I?" Julia asked standing before a gentleman dressed in black, his fingers dancing up and down a shimmering grand piano.  
  
"Why sure pretty lady!" was his answer as he rose to give Julia his seat, eyeing the young woman curiously.  
  
Suddenly his eyes widened as he realized who he was talking to. "Aren't you..." he trailed off.  
  
Julia nodded and placed a finger to her lips, but realized it was too late to keep her entrance a secret. The conversations stopped with the music, and all eyes were on Julia.   
  
She blushed, but she wasn't sure why. Then Julia took a deep breath and a good look around. Things were exactly the way she had left them, except for the people. The people who came to hear her play the piano night after night. She scanned the entire bar, but her eyes stopped when she saw her fiancé seateed in the first booth on the left. ~He~ was always there, but not today.   
  
Julia closed her eyes, with a look of nostaglia upon her face. This would be the first time she sung this song to anyone. It was the first song she wrote, but was never able to say the words aloud. Her face darkened as she contemplated leaving, but suddenly her resovled strengthened. Her hands hovered over the familiar keys for just a moment before they found their home. She began to play the same old song from the days when she was only the piano player at the bar. However, this time was different. This time, she found the words to go with it.  
  
~Whenever sang my songs  
On this stage, on my own.  
Whenever said my words  
Wishing they would be heard.~  
  
Julia thought of all the concerts that she had given all over the world. Up on the stage it was just her and her piano, but she always felt...no she knew that he was there, and now more than ever.  
  
~I saw you smiling at me,  
Was it real or just my fantasy?  
You'd always be there in the corner,  
Of this tiny, little bar.~  
  
Julia had everyone entranced with her talent and beauty, but she was unaware of her audience. She had come here to say goodbye to her first love, who faithfully came to listen to her play every night. Before she was famous.  
  
~My last night here for you,  
Same old songs, just once more.  
My last night here for you?~  
  
Julia paused. This was it. There was no going back. Her first love had left, and somehow she knew that if she finished this song, she would never meet him again. He had promised to find her after the war, and sometimes she would still look for him at the bar, but in her heart, knew that she would never see him again.  
  
Her pause had been longer than she intended and now the crowd's whispering brought her back to reality. She just smiled and continued her song.  
  
~Maybe yes, maybe no.  
I kinda liked it your way  
As you shyly placed your eyes on me.  
Oh, did you ever know?  
That I had mine on you.~  
  
She looked over the corner booth and for a moment, thought see saw him staring back. Julia blinked and her first love was gone...replaced by the respected General Caraway. He sat upright and carried no expression on his face; after all, he had a reputation to protect.  
  
~Darling, so there you are  
With that look on your face.  
As if you're never hurt,  
As if you're never down.  
Shall I be the one for you,  
Who pinches you softly but sure?  
If frown is shown then  
I will know that you are no dreamer.  
  
So let me come to you,  
Close as I want to be.  
Close enough for me  
To feel your heart beating fast.~  
  
That man she loved was perfect. His beautiful eyes, full in innocence and compassion, always seemed to be fixed on her. Julia thought of the first and last night they spent together. He talked and talked, while she sat there listening, absorbing his every word. Then he took his turn listening. Julia told him something that she had never told anyone before. She wanted to sing.   
  
~And stay there as I whisper,  
How I loved your peaceful eyes one m.  
Oh, did you ever know  
That I had mine on you?~  
  
And just like that she let everything go. A tear silently rolled down her cheek as she finsihed saying goodbye. Her face brightened as she looked toward her husband-to-be and smiled. Finally, she sang to the only man who had yet to shed a tear.  
  
~Darling, so share with me  
Your love if you have enough,  
Your tears if you're holding back,  
Or pain if that's what it is.  
How can I let you know  
I'm more than the dress and the voice?  
Just reach me out, then  
You will know that you're not dreaming.~  
  
With that last line, Caraway leaned his elbows on the table, entranced by Julia's music. He cradled his chin in his hands, and smiled, really smiled, as he lost himself in the song.  
  
~Darling, so there you are  
With that look on your face.  
As if you're never hurt,  
As if you're never down.   
Shall I be the one for you  
Who pinches you softly but sure?  
If frown is shown, then  
I will know that you are no dreamer.~ 


	2. Final Farewell

I always thought that Eyes On Julia would be a one shot thing, but here I go writing another chapter...six months after I wrote the first one. Anyway, I had no idea what to write at first. I started with the Laguna thing, and then the ending...erm...let's just say I didn't even think about that until I wrote it.  
  
BTW, I didn't create FF8, some people that work for Squaresoft did.   
  
-- - -----  
  
"Don't tell me..." Laguna began as he slowly turned around.  
  
"Of all the worst possible..." A tall, slim man continued.  
  
"...Predicaments?" Finished the largest of the group, in both height and girth.  
  
The trio was face to face with two soliders dressed in metallic blue. The biggest of the three Galbadians attacked with a giant anchor, quickly knocking out the first stranger, while the slim, dark-skinned man charged the other with two sharp knives, weilding them with such skill that one might suppose they were mere extensions of his arms. However, the second soldier did not fall. He managed to slice Laguna's left arm before his two allies were able to push him back. Laguna produced a grenade before bombarding his opponent with a rain of fire from his gun. The Galbadians ran for cover as the grenade burst and finished the second soldier off for good.   
  
The team relaxed, but too soon. The first soldier woke and caught them off-guard. With a final burst of adrenaline, he nearly killed the two taller men, but was still too weak to finish them off. After his last attack he collapsed, and the rest of the group followed suit.   
  
The company was between a rock and a really long way down. However, Laguna, always the optimist exclaimed, "Look, the ocean...We're saved! Lady Luck is on our side! We can escape to Galbadia!!!"  
  
"One would say we've been run down...That's what they'd normally say..." His friend, the realist, corrected.  
  
"Don't say that. It might come true. Didn't your grandmother tell you that?" Laguna asked in all seriousness.  
  
"...If you say something bad...It will come true...Yeah, I think she did." He replied, a hint of nostalgia in his voice.  
  
"Ggghh...rrrhhh..." The third member of the group gurgled.  
  
"What'd you say?" Laguna asked turning to his friend.  
  
"I think...his throat...was injured...He lost...his voice." The other answered between gasps for breath.  
  
"It...wa...fu...you..." The big man tried again.  
  
"Say again?" Laguana asked once more.  
  
"It...was...fun...you...guys...La...guna...Ki...ros...It...was...fun..." Were his last words.  
  
"Ward, that's way uncool. It's not cool to say things like that. Just for that, you're getting the Cuchi-Cuchi treatment!" Laguna teased as he tickled the voiceless man's stomach. "How's that, huh?! Want more?! Well?!" He challenged.  
  
"......"  
  
"......WHOA!!!" Laguna exclaimed. "Check it out, a boat! We're getting on!" He shouted.  
  
"A...vessel......They'd normally...call...it..." Kiros corrected in his usual matter-of-fact tone.  
  
"Boat, vessel, whatever. We're going back to Galbadia!" Laguna resolved, without taking the cliff into account. He waited for his two buddies to dive in first, but when they didn't he 'helped' them with the jump.  
  
"You guys...sure have guts. You know how high this cliff is...?!" He swallowed hard before begining his decent to the ocean.  
  
"Oh...sh...No way...AHHHH!!!"  
  
-- - -----  
  
"LAGUNA!" Julia shieked, waking in a cold sweat.   
  
Caraway immediately grabbed his pistol and ran to Julia.   
  
"Where is he!?" He shouted, his sharp eyes scanning the darkness.  
  
"...A dream?" Julia wondered out loud. 'It felt so real...'  
  
"What's wrong, honey?" Caraway asked, rushing to the crib where the child lay, still fast asleep. She slept so soundly, that Julia often found herself waking in the middle of the night just to make sure she was alive. Julia constantly scolded herself for thinking anything bad could happen to her baby, then reassured herself that any good, loving mother would do the same.  
  
"...Laguna..." Julia repeated the name, as if was the only word that she knew.   
  
"If everything okay?" The general asked as he tightened his grip on the gun and began to search the room for any sign of an intruder.  
  
Somehow Julia knew that what she saw earlier, was no ordinary dream. There was something about it that was so real, but she would never be able to describe it, if she were given the chance. It was like she was caught in some strange 'echo' of the past that was still resounding in dreams. She was suspended in the past, a hidden observer, and was completely helpless. She wanted to reach out, but there was some invisible force holding her back. She needed some fresh air. The crisp, cool, night air would calm her nerves and she could go back to sleep.  
  
There was a crash, and without thinking, Caraway whipped around and aimed for the bent shape on the floor. He clumsily dashed back to the crib to check on his wife, only to find that she was missing. He leaped over the motionless body to reach the light switch. What he saw then, never left his mind. There was Julia's lifeless body, slumped on the floor. She slipped on and empty bottle and he shot his wife.   
  
He gently turned Julia onto her back. Hot tears, streamed down his face...then he began to sob uncontrollably. He was so completely unnerved that he didn't even notice his daughter was crying with him. 


End file.
